I am very excited for the C2E2 convention here in Chicago this weekend (if you are attending do send me an email so we can get together).

Wednesday night, I watched Captain America: The Winter Soldier a second time. It is a great movie. Truly. I am a ghetto nerd. I be who I be...without apology.

And because I am a ghetto nerd, I wonder--more like a hope and a dream--that President Obama, he who is also one of the clan, has funded a version of the Marvel Universe's super secret spy organization S.H.I.E.L.D., and given it the mandate of infiltrating white conservative organizations in order to further discredit them.

Racism and conservatism are one and the same thing in post civil rights America: the Republican Party channels white identity politics and white supremacy. Maybe President Obama has issued an order to his field agents with the directive to make that fact even more plain and obvious to the (white) American public?

Of course, such thoughts are fantastical and absurd. However, because movement conservatism has been possessed by conspiranoid thinking, its adherents are fools and marks that will believe anything that the Fox News, Right-wing echo chamber, commands.

He said he would continue holding a daily news conference; on Saturday, it drew one reporter and one photographer, so Mr. Bundy used the time to officiate at what was in effect a town meeting with supporters, discussing, in a long, loping discourse, the prevalence of abortion, the abuses of welfare and his views on race.

“I want to tell you one more thing I know about the Negro,” he said. Mr. Bundy recalled driving past a public-housing project in North Las Vegas, “and in front of that government house the door was usually open and the older people and the kids — and there is always at least a half a dozen people sitting on the porch — they didn’t have nothing to do. They didn’t have nothing for their kids to do. They didn’t have nothing for their young girls to do.

“And because they were basically on government subsidy, so now what do they do?” he asked. “They abort their young children, they put their young men in jail, because they never learned how to pick cotton. And I’ve often wondered, are they better off as slaves, picking cotton and having a family life and doing things, or are they better off under government subsidy? They didn’t get no more freedom. They got less freedom.”

I would not be surprised if there is a segment on Fox News arguing that Barack Obama is somehow responsible for Cliven Bundy's racism.

[A thought. Who and what is "the Negro"? What does "the Negro" wear? How does "the Negro" behave? Am I one of "the Negroes"?]

Smart people of color (and others) who understand the white supremacist origins of the white militia and "patriot" movement are not surprised by Bundy's racism: he is just an honest fool who says what mainstream Republicans are afraid to publicly utter--even while they agree with him.

White conservatives believe that they are victims of a "liberal" conspiracy. They preach a mantra of "personal responsibility" while working very hard to avoid any responsibility for their own racist deeds, words, behavior, or policies.

Sean Hannity and other members of the Right-wing propaganda machine have made Cliven Bundy into a hero.

How will they stage-manage and massage his opinions about "the Negro"?

Some scenarios.

Has Bundy been misquoted? Is he really a Democrat and a liberal in disguise? Will Sean Hannity claim that Cliven Bundy is a victim of a psyop by liberals, and has been manipulated into saying apparently "racist" things which are really statements of love and respect towards "hardworking" and "real American" "conservative" blacks?

Which black buck-dancing political blackface self-hating Uncle Tom will be the first to defend Cliven Bundy?

Once more, white supremacy has profoundly damaged the thinking processes of white people--especially those of conservatives in the Age of Obama.

From George Zimmerman to Cliven Bundy, white conservatives are driven to defend human debris, those whose behavior is incorrigible and unacceptable to any reasonable and thinking person, because said upright walking human waste products are either white, or are hostile and resentful towards people of color.

Bundy's racism will only be a "surprise" for white conservatives. And as I asked in an earlier essay, what shall we do with the white people? Are white conservatives really that lost?

25 comments:

Myshkin the Idiot
said...

Hannity: "Well, he may have said some things in an unsavory way, but I wouldn't necessarily suggest that he may be incorrect.... HEY! Look over here! Obama!"

Ben Carson: "Those PC liberals are going to try to hang up Cliven Bundy for what they perceive as racism. Mr. Bundy comes from a different time and a different place and he is only saying what he sees as problems in the black community and he is RIGHT, they were better as slaves! .... wait... Obamacare is slavery."

O'Reilly: "America. I know many on the left are going to get into a groaning and shouting match over Cliven Bundy's views on the state of black America. The liberal media will try to paint him as some sort of racist, but we all know white racism is over. The liberals are actually racist against white men like Cliven Bundy and are trying to take something he said off the cuff and destroy his anti-government support and positive news coverage.

"These race hustlers will do anything to undermine American white male freedom struggles and, America, you don't have to take it from them."

Rand Paul: "I cannot confirm that Bundy is indeed a "racist" (whatever that is), but I support his efforts to stand against this abusive federal government. Obama...."

Yes they are that lost. Bundy really is just being honest. There is a tremendous about of overlap between and among white supremacists, separatists, nationalists, run of the mill racists, anti-tax crusaders, Mormons, militia groups and Republicans.

I imagine that less virulently racist conservatives will ignore Bundy's statement in much the same way that say Mitch Albom ignored Nugent's "sub human mongrel" comment but sticks to saying "racism goes both ways". It is what it is,

As far as which black person would be the first to defend Bundy I think it would be a tossup between Crystal Wright and Herman Cain.

The underlying premise of all statements by conservatives (white or black) that "blacks were better off under slavery" (it hurt to type that) is that blacks had two parent families under slavery. Why, no white slaveowner would ever be so vile as to separate a couple, let alone a mother and her children! To mention that slave families were routinely separated as a matter of slaveowner policy would suggest that whites are really the ones to blame for any historical instability in the black family.

I have taken to referring to Mr. Bundy as "the welfare queen Cliven Bundy" and that has irritated my friends and family on the right. Not that the two are necessarily related but two New Black Panthers guys stand outside a voting place and that is intimidation which still gives Fox hosts the vapors but pointing a sniper rifle at a federal agent is merely an exercise of Second Amendment rights. As Charles Pierce always notes it cannot be about race so why the disparate treatment? Enquiring minds would like to know.

These ain't Rockefeller R's. The party's advocacy of violence, riots, secession, civil war, racism, and slavery is an illustrative measure of radicalism. Only a grass roots movement can pressure government to crack down on rightist excess as was the case in the 60's. The FBI's malevolent version of S.H.I.E.L.D. has been active in practically all political movements for at least 70 years, their mandate being to prevent political organizing, paradoxically so it would seem at first blush, by energizing the radical right; with white supremacy as its main organizing principle. For example, during the 60's the F.B.I. secretly sponsored most KKK chapters in the South; ostensibly for surveillance but actually to facilitate orchestrated and spontaneous aggression against any and all political organizing. With no grass roots counterweight to rightist astroturf, neo-tammanization fills the political vacuum. Neo-tammany is too unpopular to command a majority and officialdom has a vested interest in containing it but that shouldn't lull the left into complacency as anything can happen. Moreover all social problems are largely due to the vacuum on the left. Unprecedented looming crises add to the national sense of urgency which manifests as desperation among "getting poorer" whites, making them highly susceptible to fascist propaganda.

Cliven Bundy reminds me a little of the recently late, and not-so-lamented, Rev. Fred Phelps. There are some, including myself, who used to say that he was merely voicing honestly the feelings that a great segment of U.S. society felt. Further, it is possible that in the long run he actually helped the situation by making homophobia that much more disreputable. Could such an outspoken racist do the same to racism? I don't know; analogies are always imperfect at best and besides that, stirring up this kind of hatred is of course very dangerous to its targets. Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, etc. and their followers seem to be impervious to that kind of embarrassment.

Also, the way they used the CIA to facilitate drug-running, much of it to black neighborhoods, by the Contras in the 80s. Digby had a good rundown of it here the other day. The Southern Strategy of Nixon and his even worse successors was not only to increase the GOP share of the white vote by appealing to white racists, but to suppress the black vote, including by incarcerating hundreds of thousands of black people for drug usage that GOP activities helped promote.

For some reason, they think slavery was simply low wage jobs. This is what it is about when they push for minorities to accept less than minimum wage, or these "right to work states." They are fantasizing that this country is back in the days of their fore fathers. They don't believe that minorities should be paid a fair and decent wage because that was not their original role in the construction of this country. And these are the people with the guns and temerity to stand up to government authorities.

In essence, it is residual resentment for being forced to end slavery, that has been/is being carried from generation to generation. These comments barely get a response now. Not like they did during civil rights. It is simply another day in the US. However, threaten to boycott a fast food franchise for having extreme Christian homophobic views and the lines will snake around the corner in support for, and protest against, the perceived "threat" to their religion. When they decide to get their revolution started, who do you think the first victims will be?

And of course black slaves had it easier than white immigrants! Look at the calorie counts! There is a serious lack of perspective and ethics at work in the literature by a polite group of racist economists and historians who make that claim. So much for liberal academe.

I'm drawing from the cite The FBI's Historical Connections to the KKK, Bob Feldman 68, and James Kirkpatrick Davis' 1992 book Spying on America:The FBI's Counterintelligence Program. "By the end of 1965 the FBI had more than 7,000 informants within the klaverns...used in 85% of Klan actions...15% of the KKK was composed of FBI informants...half (in) leadership positions." Paul and Sally Bermanzohn's book The True Story of the Greenbore Massacre says "The FBI has been using the Klan and other fascist groups for a long time...FBI informant Gary Rowe...instigated...dozens of violent acts including a bloody assault on Bermingham Freedom Fighters in 1962, the church bombing murder of four school girls, and the murder of Viola Liuzzo...the FBI set up more than 40 all-informant Klan chapters in North Carolina alone." James Ridgeway's book Blood in the Face says that FBI informant Bill Wilkinson set up the KKK's Invisible Empire organization in 1980...(in conjunction with David Duke.) Kirkpatrick also notes that FBI special agent undercover liaison in Seattle (developed)..."a terrorist bombing operation..."

Come on...be serious. What about the serious lack of information...about the thousands of indentured servants that came over who were white? Not saying they had it worse than slaves, of course not, but some of them were actually slaves. And many groups of Europeans were seriously mistreated and discriminated against. And to be honest, there were some that were treated worse than some slaves. The problem here is lack of perspective as well as the reliance upon a set narrative that doesn't allow for any exceptions to the "accepted" viewpoint. At any rate, the fool that you are deriding was stupid for saying what he said. But I do not believe he was implying what you inferred from his statement. Just because he says something stupid doesn't mean that his intentions are racist.

Tips and Support Are Always Welcome

Who is Chauncey DeVega?

I have been a guest on the BBC, National Public Radio, Ring of Fire Radio, Ed Schultz, Sirius XM's Make it Plain, Joshua Holland's Alternet Radio Hour, the Thom Hartmann radio show, the Burt Cohen show, and Our Common Ground.

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I am a contributing writer for Salon and Alternet.

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